Chapter 23.1
Episode 23 — Surarin Hard～ Part 1 ～
Unusually, it seemed to be raining in the wasteland. The students who were carrying out renovation work at the heavy cruiser, except for some who was working inside the s.h.i.+p, returned to the base. Many students seemed to be bored, but only Uozumi brother and sister were different, they were frolicking like fishes getting water, literally.
According to the materials Selena left behind, there was a high possibility that there existed a groundwater source near this dungeon. It was speculated that there would be a waterway in the dungeon the next day after the rain, which might lead to a hidden room that one couldn’t normally go to. Whether or not they would have an exploration party incorporating Uozumi brother and sister the next day was still in consideration.
Ryuzaki Kunihiro was spending time in the strategy room after a long absence.
There were still many concerns, such as the red winged devil, but it was the gospel of Ryuzaki to relax his worrying heart under the straining atmosphere inside the cla.s.s despite all that. However on the back side, one student had also been kidnapped by the enemy, so he couldn’t just delightfully let it go.
He hoped Kogane would at least be safe.
Ryuzaki suddenly remembered the existence of the heavy cruiser’s s.h.i.+p log that had been left in the office desk.
It was something that Kyousuke group brought. He decided to read it once things calmed down and had completely forgotten about it.
It was one of the important clues related to the former world. However, now that he knew that there were trippers in Selena’s hometown, it didn’t worth so much anymore.
Ryuzaki opened the logbook. Although it was the same j.a.panese, the style was of 70 years ago. Besides it was hard to read because of the messy handwriting.
As he flipped through the pages for a while, the handwriting had obviously changed in the middle. This person’s handwriting was a little readable.
“Umm, what is…”
There was a description that the commanding superior of the heavy cruiser became missing, as a result they were writing in the logbook in his instead. Probably it was the captain in Kyousuke group’s report.
“……”
There was no particular descriptions such as crew monsterization. However, it was written that they were attacked by creatures of different world such as sandworms and goblins, and they were exhausted day by day. Although by no means an excellent writing style, as it wasn’t somebody else’ problem, one could on contrary truly feel the imminent reality from the indifferent reports.
Despair of not knowing whether they could return to the former world.
The crew who were exhausted day by day and their number reduced.
Eventually it came up to a statement that some non-commissioned officials caused a riot and they were inevitably shot to keep order within the s.h.i.+p.
“We would be like this we if we had taken just one more misstep…”
A s.h.i.+vering feeling crept up on Ryuzaki’s back.
Purge to keep order changed the atmosphere inside the s.h.i.+p. Of course it was for the worse.
Those who oppose the captain will be killed. Such recognition was spreading. The gloomy atmosphere lingered, leading to a straining feeling. Those who sold flattery flocked to the captain, those who took distance, those who snitched on people whom they didn’t like about signs of betrayal. It was various.
One day the captain and his group left the heavy cruiser and decided to head east. They, who were experts in naval warfare, had insufficient expertise on so-called land expeditions, but still they decided that they would only dry up there. T
he number of people had already been reduced to half of the initial one.
It seemed that the logbook was brought to the journey properly. 1st day, 2nd day and 3rd day, only the feelings of despair and impatience grew. Even so, on the 4th day they seemed to discover artificial structures, such as defensive walls. It is Selena’s country. Ryuzaki thought. They had arrived as well.
But in that case, why was the captain rotting away in that heavy cruiser? He even bothered to come back with the logbook.
The answer was on the next page.
From the conclusion, the soldiers of the former j.a.panese Navy who were transferred to this world could not receive a great welcome from the locals at the time. Approaching the walls and waving their hands, it was baptisms of cold arrows directed at them.
Because words didn’t go through, there was no means to prove that they were not hostile. Furthermore, it was decisive that a soldier who fell into depression fired his rifle. Shooting to death one of the soldiers firing arrows from the top of the defensive walls, the captain and his group were considered complete enemies.
The captain and his group fled for their lives to the heavy cruiser, but they realized they didn’t have long from the wounds they had received.
The pages, after a few more days further from there, ended.
“……”
Ryuzaki closed the book with an indescribable feeling.
It was said that trippers were living in Selena’s country now. In other words, there were people who were fortunate enough to not be regarded as enemies in that country, and had succeeded in receiving great protection. However, just by making a single mistake, things like those written in this logbook could naturally occur.
It was a feeling of reaffirming the danger of contact between different cultures.
Will Kyousuke and the others do well? There was obviously a feeling that they would be fine. It was a principle that everything in relation with Selena had been done peacefully.
However, as he was thinking, the coffin placed in the corner of the strategy room suddenly rattled.
“Uwaa.”
His voice unintentionally came out.
Harao (Pharaoh). It was the coffin of Harao Masaki. It was quite rare for him to wake up voluntarily.
“Ah—…”
The lid of the coffin was opened, and his body slowly lifted from inside.
“Good morning, Harao.”
“Ah—…, good morning. Thou hast disturbed me in mine slumber…”
“You got up by yourself today, didn’t you?”
“Ah—, that was the case…. Twas myself who disturbed mine slumber…”
Surprisingly, this man named Harao was such a person even when he was still a human. The reason why he was not bullied in the cla.s.s, his parents were the number one wealthy people in town, his grandfather was in the city council, his paternal uncle was the director of the munic.i.p.al hospital, his maternal uncle was a parliament member, it was because he came from that kind of amazing family. Unskillfully laying your hand on him and scary older brothers marched into your house. It was vicious. Even from the time as humans, it was feared as the «curse of Harao».
Well, he is a good guy at heart.
Ryuzaki considered about 90% of people who lived on the planet as «good guy at heart».
Still, well, Harao is a good guy at heart.
“Hou, Ryuzaki, the book that you have…. It woke up from its slumber of 200 years, a record of black history…”
“200 years?”
Ryuzaki with the logbook in hand, made a dubious look.
“It’s a wartime diary. It should be 70 or 80 years, isn’t it?”
“200 years…. My eyes that see through time never fail…”
“I guess the flow of time is different here in this case…”
Because Harao’s «eyes that see through time» was not a joke. Ryuzaki purposely put the coffin in the strategy room because he was handy for his eyes. In addition to dating, he could see the past and the future to some extent. It was not accurate enough to say future vision or prophecy, as it was said by Harao 『Deviation of little definite factor』, things were subjected to changes, but it was still helpful as a guideline to make decision.
“I will go to sleep again…. No one, must not hinder the sleep of Harao…”
Zuzuzu … and closing the lid of the coffin with telekinesis, Harao muttered.
“Ahh, are you going to bed now? Good night.”
By the time Ryuzaki said so, snoring could be heard from inside.
But, 200 years? If that much time have pa.s.sed, there won’t be any people who remembers the crew of the heavy cruiser directly. He thought.
Those people, however, would rather rest peacefully. It was not good to dragged on the unfortunate accident in this logbook to the negotiation’s situation this time. However, once things settled down, he thought that at the very least he would like to bury their souls with the same j.a.panese hands.
“Ryuzaki-kun, are you there!?”
This time, there was a sound of knocking on the door of the strategy room with a bang. This voice was Sak.u.ma’s. It was rare for her to make such a loud voice.
“I am, what happened?”
“Te–terrible…! I mean, it’s amazing!”
Sak.u.ma’s chest, who said so and came into the strategy room, was indeed terrible and had a tremendous rampage.
However, the experienced Ryuzaki, never did look at important cla.s.smates with evil eyes.
“So, what’s so terrible and amazing?”
“On the 15th underground floor, we picked up something terrible…”
“Something terrible…”
From Sak.u.ma’s words, he understood that it was not something bad. Then, is it useful stuff?
“All right. Let’s go see.”
“Yeah, it might be better if Kuremori-kun see it too…”
Will it possibly be useful as a part of the heavy cruiser, perhaps?
In some cases, the renovation might be completed earlier than originally planned. Ryuzaki left the strategy room so that he could be brought there by Sak.u.ma.